New National Parks In Canada Could Open In The Next Few Years & Here's Where They Might Be
All of the new parks will be in urban locations!
View of Edmonton's high-rise buildings. Right: A wooden bridge in Rouge National Urban Park.
A bunch of new urban national parks in Canada could be created by 2030 and some of Canada's biggest cities are already expressing interest in this Parks Canada initiative.
Back in 2021, it was announced by the federal government that Parks Canada will collaborate with municipalities, provinces, Indigenous partners and conservation organizations to establish national parks located in cities across Canada.
Parks Canada has signed statements of collaboration with the Meewasin Valley Authority in Saskatoon along with the municipalities of Winnipeg, Halifax, and Windsor, Ontario, to explore potential national urban parks.
Miriam Padolsky, director of urban park and ecological corridors at Parks Canada, said that the goal is to establish at least one national urban park in every single province and territory over the next eight years, according to CBC News.
"It's a chance for Canadians to connect more with nature, closer to where they live," Padolsky said during a recent trip to Edmonton to discuss the initiative.
She also noted that having these natural spaces within cities could aid in "protecting biodiversity, helping with climate change mitigation and adaptation, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples."
While no concrete locations for these national urban parks have been decided on yet, the federal government has invested $130 million to create a network of sites in Canada.
Padolsky said that the designs of the new parks will vary from city to city.
This initiative isn't a brand new concept for Canada. There is already a place like this, Rouge National Urban Park which is the first of its kind in this country.
The park spans Toronto, Markham and Pickering and has one of the region's largest marshes, diverse wildlife, a beach on Lake Ontario, hiking trails and some of the oldest known Indigenous sites in Canada.
Along with Saskatoon, Halifax, Winnipeg and Windsor, the new national urban parks could be located in Colwood, B.C., Edmonton, Alberta, and Montreal, Quebec!